Hands down, biggest pre-Thanksgiving post pandemic.
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Spilt up, UniversalsWickedopened to$114Mwhile ParamountsGladiator IIdid$55.5M.
The musical is also hands down Cynthia Erivos best opening ever at the box office.
‘Wicked’ and ‘Gladiator II’Universal/Warner Bros.
The running global tally on the Ridley Scott directed epic is already$220M.
As far as the lower ticket sales forWickedandGladiator II,both have runtimes at 2 1/2 hour-plus.
Nothing tops the cinematic experience, and audiences are loving it.
Denzel Washington in ‘Gladiator II’Getty Images
This is a tremendous catalyst for a strong box office going into December and the new year.
Thats simply because female moviegoers pre-plan their trips to the box office.
AMC Lincoln Square in NYC isWickeds top grossing theater at $268K to date.
ThatsGladiator 2s to grossing venue too with $130K.
Gladiator IIsaw 10% of its gross coming from Canada off 8% of its overall location count.
Very similar large format draws forWickedandGladiator II,both around 32%.
The viral rate forWickedvideos was a very good 14:1.
Gladiator IIs social media reach at 336.8M per RelishMix is 32% below action adventure pics across five platforms.
All eyes are onWickeds staying power asMoana 2moves in.
Can two female heavy tentpoles stay alive?
The marketplace arguably hasnt seen a face-off like this ever.
Can it crossover on word of mouth?
Are fans going a second or third time?
The chart:
More…. ParamountsGladiator IIstands at$60Mafter a$22MFriday/previews.
There was a lot of pent-up demand for a repeat ofBarbenheimerthis weekend at the box office.
Also consider the fact that were not in the deep of summer.
The biggest mistake by the industry would be not to have created aGlickedweekend.
Exhibitors are upping the out-of-home experience.
B&B Theatres has Roman guards tearing tickets and serving Strength & Honor cocktails in celebration ofGladiator II.
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema is selling Defying Gravi-Tea, Witchs Brew and throwing Emerald City soirees.
Marcus Theatres has character appearances by Elphaba and Glinda, and pink and green ICEEs.
PLF screens and some Imax are delivering just over a third of the weekend toWickeds business.
Universal is forecasting a $165M global opening weekend forWickedat this point in time.
It will easily touch or near $200M WW this weekend.
Fourth place goes to Angel StudiosBonhoeffer.
Assassinat 1,900 sites with$2.3MFriday and$4.65Mfor the weekend off an A Cinemascore.
Mostly Caucasian at 71% with 13% Latino and Hispanic and 8% Asian.
The $200M-$250M Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans productioncrossed the $100M global marktoday.
Angel Studios has a wide release this weekend, the period drama thrillerBonhoeffer.
Assassinat 1,900 sites, which is looking like$2.4Mtoday and$4.8Mfor the weekend in fourth place.
FRIDAY AM UPDATED AFTER EXCLUSIVE:Universal is callingWicked Part Ones previews at$19.2 million.
Standard previews yesterday at 3,300 theaters yielded a total Thursday gross of $11M.
Its way ahead of Disneys 2017 live-action adaptation ofBeauty and the Beast($16.3M).
Updated gut from tracking this AM onWickedis$120M+.
Paramounts official number on the R-ratedGladiator IIis$6.5Mat 3,200 locations.
Theres also theIndiana Jones and the Dial of Destinycomp.
Rotten Tomatoes audience score is a healthy 84%.
This is all according to Comscore.
The biggest opening for a movie based on a Broadway musical isInto the Woods($31M).
UniversalsMamma Mia!sequel,Mamma Mia!
Gladiator II, meanwhile is between$6.5M-$7Mand thats for Thursday alone.
Duly note, Paramount didnt have big preview days in advance, just a small 200-theater Screen Unseen sneak.
Thats right around whatGladiator IIis expected to conquer by Sunday.
As we always say on Thursday, take these estimates with a grain of salt.
If the studio reports lower, it doesnt necessarily mean a movie is without momentum.
Natalie Sitek contributed to this report.
